Farmer Brown had 10 apples
Hanging on a tree
Then he picked one apple
And he gave it all to me
Leaving 9 red apples hanging on the tree.
9 red apples hanging on the tree
Then he picked one apple
And gave it all to me
Leaving 8 red apples hanging on the tree.

8 red apples... etc ... (continue until there are no apples left on the tree)

Arts & Crafts

Cheerio Necklaces

Read the book The Cheerios Counting Book. Discuss the numbers and count in the book the number of cheerios shown on each page. Discuss with the children how old they are and have them show you their age using their fingers. Have the children sit down and then give each child a handful of cheerios. Use yarn to make cheerios necklaces with the kids. Have them count their Cheerios as they put them on their necklace. If you are teaching preschoolers, use 10 as the number. If you are doing this with kindergartners, let them put 20 cheerios on their necklaces.

Theme Ideas

"My Friends" Phone Book

For the numbers theme I take a picture of each child, and below write their phone numbers. I then laminate it and put it in the dramatic play area.
My 3 yr. olds have a blast calling their friends. At the end of the theme, I make photo copies and send "My Friends" phone book.

~Submitted by Vanessa from Minnesota

Number Chart

Make a number chart. I do this with my preschoolers by drawing lines on a piece of posterboard to make ten sections. We start at one, and glue on objects for each number (i.e. two feathers,
three pom-poms, four buttons, five beans, etc.) We put the chart up on the wall and the children can continue to practice
counting the different items.